Nothing?
Nothing, Carl Pei’s smartphone company, may be planning to launch a smartwatch and trademark applications have been spotted by several people lending some credence to the rumors. It makes sense: Nothing currently offers a smartphone (version 2 is poised to launch), some earbuds and a few accessories. The company’s differentiator, at least on the phone side, is that it is translucent, allowing you to see the inner workings, bits and bobs that make up a phone. More importantly, version 2 of the smartphone is supposed to offer a more premium feel with a better camera. And, according to rumors, the device will be available in the US this time around. Which brings us back to the watch… if the phone does launch in the US, then we could see an interesting new watch hit the market. Our guess is that the style will be more like a Swatch than a Samsung, but, if priced right, that could be exactly what the market needs.
The Circana Take:
- It’s a long shot at this stage. Yes, trademarks, etc, have been spotted, but it is a long leap from that to a finished product… and an even longer leap to getting the product launched in the US.
- Could it be an interesting addition to the market? Possibly. But frankly, the more we think about it, the more we realize what we really want to see is a Swatch smartwatch (again). That could drive the younger segment of the market significantly.
Hey Google! You’re back!
Google Assistant is back on Fossil’s Gen 6 watches running Wear OS 3. That includes Skagen, Michael Kors and Diesel as well as Fossil-branded devices. To be clear, this really should not be news… but when Wear OS 3 first launched, Google Assistant was only available on Pixel and Samsung devices; everyone else had to wait, which meant that Fossil customer used to having “The Goog” accessible for every last request found that upgrading their watch led to a downgrade in features.
The Circana Take:
- Frankly, the loss of Google Assistant should not have happened. Google should have ensured that the assistant was available to all its partners on launch day. Of course, the result may be a backfire on Google, as Fossil also supports Amazon’s Alexa. My bet is that if you really wanted a voice assistant on your Fossil watch for the past year, then you are pretty much done with Google at this point and may not come back.